


Sleep Alone

by the_hyrule_shinigami



Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst, Fluff, I'm surprised how well this actually fits with the ending tbh, because fuck the final chapters, break from canon, ignoring 686, sudden realisation of love heheh, taken from my ff.net page
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-08-27 00:23:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8380198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_hyrule_shinigami/pseuds/the_hyrule_shinigami
Summary: For the prompt: Imagine Person A of your OTP thinking Person B is dead, but they're not. They're just lost.





	1. Resurrection

**Author's Note:**

> So as said in the tags, this was taken from my FF.net account, of the same name (minus the underscores), buuuuut seeing as I wrote this a year ago, I've improved bits of it (hopefully anyway) Original URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11620431/1/Sleep-Alone

In the months that had passed since the war ended, she had tried to get on with her life. To let go. To forget. But there had been that small part of her that had refused to believe it was over, that he was really gone forever. That it was her fault. Longing seemed to be the only emotion she was capable of, and gradually that faded too, until all that was left of her was a shell, a mannequin with her face. It wasn't as if she was alone- oh no, in fact, she was the least alone she had been since Sora died. Tatsuki came to visit her more often than ever, and every now and again Ichigo and Rukia would tag along too. They must be hurting too... so how? How could they go on like this? Call it what you want- survivor's guilt, regret, mourning- the reason had to be something more. They couldn't feel anywhere near as responsible. Well, they _wouldn't_ now, would they? She knew she shouldn't blame herself- that wasn't what _he_ would have wanted.

But _he_ was gone.

So she lay alone. Home in the dark. Eyes wide open and but never really seeing.

At first, the footseps didn't startle her. Tatsuki was her guess.

But that was when the knock came, soft, weak. An irregular knock.

Now she was on guard. Tatsuki- and well, everyone who knew her- knew she was home. She was always home it, seemed. Why knock?

"Tsubaki," she whispered, as she approached the door. The fairy landed on her shoulder, apparently as on edge as she was. She gave him a meaningful stare and, pressing a finger to her lips, turned the doorknob with her other hand, heart beating fast. Combat had never been her area, but she was determined to defend herself if she needed to. Taking a deep breath she threw the door open, her mouth already forming an incantation-

And that's when she stopped dead.

Rasping.

"I'm- so sorry."

A raven haired boy stood in front of her, wearing what looked like the remains of a white cloak. The same cloak. He was covered head to foot in deep cuts and bruises. One of the lenses in his glasses has been smashed, and the same eye was black and swollen. She didn't say anything. She couldn't.

"But this- only- safe- place."

Her breathing grew heavier, and a tiny cry escaped from her throat.

"Oi, what are you freezing up for?" Tsubaki hissed in her ear, "Guy needs help doesn't he?"

"Inoue-san, are you oka- ?" The boy in front of her collapsed into a fit of coughing, and had to grip the railings for balance.

"Ishida…-kun?" Her eyes were wide. "It- it's you! But how-" She shook herself. Answers could wait. What mattered now was all she could see in front of her. She moved to support him, putting his arm over her shoulder. She could tell he was barely conscious, his breath kept catching in his thrown. He was light. Worryingly so.

She lay him on her sofa and instinctively reached for her hair clips.

Even in his current state, he made a vague attemt to grab onto her wrist

"Can't- do- that-" he managed, "They'll find- you, they- track- reiatsu." His voice was quiet, little more than a whisper.

She lowered her arms, resignedly. "Please, you have to stop talking. Don't put any strain on yourself, I'll find something just- Hold on a little longer okay?" Inoue grimaced. His reiatsu was incredibly weak, but if what he said about them tracking reiatsu was true, then that could be his deliberate doing, she supposed. She hoped.

Inoue placed a hand to his forehead and almost recoiled in shock. He was burning up.

She chewed her lip in thought, pushing the hair away his eyes absentmindedly. Did she even keep medicine? She entertained the idea of calling Kurosaki, but decided against it. If she asked him for pills he'd immediately get the wrong idea. She knew she didn't have enough time to go out and buy some, so she'd have to do without. _Well... food is easy._

She gave his hand one final squeeze before hurrying to her kitchen and frantically searching for food Tatsuki would deem "edible".

Uryuu stared at her from the sofa, only one eye half open. Even from here, he could see her pained expression. He silently cursed himself for being so selfish. For not telling her before that he was still alive. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about it before, but being on the run from a ruthless, practically omnipotent being for months on end made sending secret messages challlenging to say the least. _If she thought I was dead, she probably blames herself. If I die here, there'd be no way to convince her otherwise. She's right though, I can't speak. Don't suppose her fairies can read minds can they?_

Orihime returned carrying a huge pile of various seemingly random foodstuffs, along with a few soaking hand towels. Kneeling down beside him, she folded one and placed it over his forehead.

He looked horribly guilty, and opened his mouth as if to at least attempt explain himself, but she shook her head.

"You look nearly starved, please just eat something now- you can sleep after that, if you want, Ishida-kun. You don't need to explain right now. It's ok, I- I'm just-" She looked away. She could feel herself tearing up, "I'm just... I'm so glad you're… alive."


	2. Discovery

It was now approaching 3:00 AM. The town was silent, save for the far away calling of a cat. Inoue was sitting cross-legged against the back of her sofa, where Ishida was, finally, sleeping peacefully. Strangely, her own eyelids weren’t even drooping. Her mind was much too loud for that to happen, dizzy with questions. This boy had die- well no, she supposed, _disappeared_ 6 months ago, only to reappear at her door, a ghost of his former self- still in those clothes, _that cloak_. She could be angry at him, she guessed, for not telling her he was alive.

She _could_ be. 

That makes a change… she thought. A couple of hours ago she couldn’t have been anything.

She pulled herself to her feet, shaking her head. Being tired certainly wouldn’t help things. She turned to go to her room, but she couldn’t help letting her eyes fall on his sleeping figure. His left eye was in a horrible state- so swollen she could barely make it out. There a faint croak in his throat whenever he breathed in. She’d put an old blanket around him, as nothing much remained of the cloak. His brow twitched suddenly, and he started moaning, his breathing growing shorter, more irregular.

“I…did it…” His whole body tensed up, his white knuckles gripping the blanket tightly, “Leave…them…”

 _Nightmare_ , Inoue grimaced. _I don’t blame him._

“Ishida-kun.” She knelt cautiously on the carpet next to him, and placed a hand over his. “It’s a dream, you’re safe here.”

His movements became more distressed. An arm shot up to cover his eyes, and his cries increased in volume. “Wait…stop, STOP!”

“Ishida-kun.” No change. His legs began to kick, as if running from an invisible enemy. She tried again, louder. “Ishida. ISHIDA.”

He was nearly shouting. “Wait! Stop- don’t touch her! For God’s sake listen to me!”

“URYUU!”

An eye flew open and he jolted upright, his face a picture of terror- black hair stuck in a cold sweat on his forehead. Inoue wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him into an embrace.

“You’re safe. I promise.”

Hesitantly, he reached his arms around her.

“S-sorry Inoue-san, I- I haven’t really slept well in- since everything ended.” He still wasn’t breathing evenly.

“Mm.” 

“Ah-” Ishida seemed to suddenly become very aware of the position he was in He fumbled his hand around on the table next to him until he found what remained of his glasses. 

“I-I’m sorry, I’m k-keeping you up aren’t I?” He faltered, making a point of covering his face while adjusting and readjusting his glasses.

“Don’t worry about it, Ishida-kun.” _Thank God he’s still the same awkward person._ She decided she wasn’t going to go until his breathing settled. “Do you… want to talk about your dream?”

He bit his lip and looked away. _Should I have asked_? Inoue mused, a concerned look spreading across her face. She was about to apologize for her rashness, when he spoke:

“It-it’s always the same dream.” He began, voice quiet, shaking. “I relive that day. About what they could have- what they _still could_ do. Every _single_ possible situa- well that’s not… _strictly_ true,” he looked warily at her, “Only the worst ones.”

Her eyes widened. Any anger she might have had evaporated. 

_Hold on… did he just say ‘still-’?_

“Yeah. They’re still out there. That’s why you- you can’t tell the others, not yet. I’m sorry this is all- all my fault, I-” He jerked his head away and started coughing violently.

“Hey, don’t strain yourself. It was stupid of me to ask, just- tell me when you’re feeling up to it alright?”

“Y-yeah, thanks.” He murmured, embarrassed. Inoue smiled sheepishly at him and yawned. “Oh- sorry Ishida-kun.”

“No it’s ok. If you’re tired then please don’t over exert yourself on my part.” He reassured her. He was finally breathing normally. She flashed him another apologetic grin and got up for her room.

Back to silence. Back to the cat.

*

Said black cat was currently pacing up and down a wall, about a hundred yards from her door. It seemed to be rather annoyed, and its tail twitched impatiently. “Dammit Kisuke,” it muttered, “Can’t you be on time for once?”

“Oh come on Yoruichi-san, that’s not fair,” joked the blonde man stepping out from an alleyway. “You know full well that my shop’s on completely the other side of town.”

“I appreciate it’s in your nature but now is really not a time to be joking.” The cat hopped down onto the man’s shoulder. “I know why you called me back here- I could sense them the second I stepped through the Senkaimon.”

“Yes, it appears that the Quincy has returned to us. Normally I would be thrilled at Ishida-san’s arrival but this time,” He mused, adopting a more serious tone, “This time it appears he is not alone.”

The pair began walking through the streets. Neither of them spoke for a long time. They didn’t really need to. They’d known each other long enough to guess what the other was thinking. The wind picked up and it started to drizzle. _Rain…_ the man pondered, pulling out an umbrella, _odd for July isn’t it?_ Yoruichi shook her fur. _Damn rain._

Kisuke stopped under a streetlamp, hat pulled low over his- over where his eyes had been, and ran a finger subconsciously over the thin scar that ran down his cheek. Yoruichi glanced at down at him, unsure what she could say that she hadn’t said already. The quick-fix solution was normally to get him talking about something else.

“Do we contact him?”

Kisuke pondered this. “Yes. No. Not yet.”

She rolled her eyes, “Pick one.”

“… Not yet.” He finally decided. He continued thinking out loud: “Let him recuperate first. We don’t want to start any fights before he’s ready for it. That thing can most likely track reiatsu better than every-captain level shinigami put together. Going there would lead it straight to him. No, better to avoid him for as long as possible- at least until we can get a proper plan together. Plus…” He added, in that awful voice he did whenever he was about to make some sort of self-deprecating joke, “The poor boy is probably riddled with enough guilt as it is. I wouldn’t want to drop _this_ kind of bombshell on him.” He gestured vaguely to his face.

She honestly felt like hitting him. Yoruichi hated that voice. A thought struck her:

“Hang on… if it can track reiatsu that well then how do we know they haven’t found him already.”

He licked his lips, “We don’t.”

“And what about us? Our reiatsu are much larger- how long ‘til they come after us?” No sooner had the words left her mouth when she felt it.

“Well…” Kisuke pointed as subtly as he could to the top of the streetlamp they were currently under. She didn’t need to follow his finger to know what was up there- its presence made her fur stand on end.

“It appears they already have.”


End file.
